ABSTRACT

This chapter describes how innovation has been conceived through different historical phases before embracing the concept of social innovation in an open source economy. It suggests such a concept has not fully reached its potential for generating an impact on BoP communities and thus there is a lot to be achieved by integrating its modalities in product and service design. The chapter also describes some of the different innovation platforms created by ecosystems to enhance social impact and achieve development goals. It concludes by asserting that new platforms and approaches need to be created in order to transform the ways in which products and services are being designed and that these new platforms need to be created through a cross-sectoral approach, engaging the participation of civil society organizations, governments and private-sector associations.